


fngs fr th mmrs

by Ectopal (bodingly)



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Blood, Gen, badger cereal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:40:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23837704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bodingly/pseuds/Ectopal
Summary: Danny wakes up with fangs, and unfortunately, there's only one guy around who might be able to tell him what's going on.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Vlad Masters
Comments: 22
Kudos: 249





	fngs fr th mmrs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bonuscat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonuscat/gifts).



“Oh my god, will you stop laughing? This isn’t—OW!—funny, fruitloop!”

Danny can count the number of times he’s had a civil conversation with the older halfa on one hand and finish with fingers leftover. This conversation so far is not numbering among those few.

“It’s, oh my dear boy, you don’t understand; this is  _ hilarious  _ ,” Vlad says between fits of laughter, head honest to god  _ thrown back  _ from how hard he’s cackling. It’s simultaneously the most and least human Danny’s ever seen him. 

Danny raises his voice to be heard over the laughter, “if you give yourself a heart attack I  _ will  _ let you die.”

He’s ignored, which is all par for the course. Just when it sounds like Vlad’s going to calm down and maybe act like an adult for once in his half life, he stands up straight, looks right at Danny, and loses it again.

“Vlad, I’m serious, I don’t know what’s going on and—AH!—and I don’t know how to get them to go away!”

Danny needs to remember to be careful with what he says; he nearly bit a hole into his tongue that time. 

Finally,  _ finally  _ , it looks like Vlad is starting to compose himself. His laughter dies down and his breathing steadies. Danny stares, giving Vlad his best “fuck you just help me already” face. Vlad ignores it, like he always does when Danny tries to take things seriously.

“Oh, Daniel,” he says, mirth still clear in his eyes as he wipes a  _ tear  _ from one of them, “you don’t understand how much I needed that.”

Danny rolls his eyes and thinks of about six things Vlad probably needs more (therapy being at the top of the list), but bites his tongue (metaphorically, for once). Obviously,  _ obviously,  _ this is a last resort. Danny knows it, Vlad knows it, Danny knows that Vlad knows that he knows it, et cetera, et cetera. He wouldn’t be here if he had other options. The humans don’t know enough about ghost physiology to even begin to guess why he woke up with fangs, and the ghosts he’s friendly with (and some that he isn’t) don’t know enough about human physiology to guess why he hadn’t had them all along. Unfortunately, this is halfa business. Even more unfortunately, there’s only one other halfa in existence who he can talk to about this.

“Do you know what’s happening, or was this a waste of my time?” Danny asks, doing his very best to move his mouth as little as possible. 

“Impatient as always, Daniel,” Vlad says with a cheshire grin. He reaches into a desk and pulls out a box of latex gloves, pulling a pair on as they talk. “You barge into  _ my  _ lab in the middle of my work and haven’t even bothered to ask how  _ I’m  _ doing. Now, I’m not  _ saying  _ that you’ve been raised no better than a feral child in a pack of wolves but...well, one must develop manners at  _ some  _ age, little badger.”

“Oh my god, Plasmius, _ can you help me or not  _ ?”

“When did you say this started again, child?”

“This morning,” Danny says miserably, extremely put out by the child remark. “And I've bitten myself sev—OW!—eight times already!"

“This morning,” Vlad muses, knocking the drawer closed with his thigh as he walks towards the table Danny is sitting on. “A very unwelcome shock, I assume. Open up.”

For once, Danny doesn’t protest. He’s not sure if it’s better or worse that Vlad’s switched into curious scientist mode, but at least he’s finally taking this seriously.

“Hm,” Vlad says, tapping one of the fangs with the tip of a gloved finger. “As always, you are full of surprises, my boy. Did you show these to anyone else?”

Vlad pulls back and takes a step away as Danny closes his mouth, mindful of the four, sharp-as-knives teeth that click and settle awkwardly against each other.

“No,” Danny admits. “But it’s not like I can go home like this.”

“Oh, what a pity,” Vlad says blithely as he peels off his gloves. If it wasn’t clear enough from his long and storied history of trying to make this exact scenario a reality, Danny would  _ still  _ get the impression Vlad didn’t give two shits about him being with his family from the pep in his step and the way he tossed the gloves like a football into the trash.

“Yeah, a real pity,” Danny growls. “So do you know why—AH!—I woke up with fangs, or are you just drawing this out to mess with me?”

Vlad turned around, wearing perhaps the biggest shit eating grin Danny had ever seen on his stupid face.

“So...you can’t go home, and I assume your little friends have parents who wouldn’t react well to this particular development…”

The implication is as expected as it is annoying. Danny still feels like the shit gets kicked out of him when he realizes what Vlad is saying.

“Oh, get fucked Plasmius,” Danny growls, crossing his arms and shooting a glare Vlad’s way. 

(But he doesn’t get to his feet. He doesn’t leave, because…?)

In a flash, Vlad’s humor leaves him. He glares right back, his own eyes flashing red at the slight.

“Such  _ language,  _ Daniel,” Vlad says, and there’s danger laced in his tone now. “For someone coming to me  _ begging  _ for help, your stunning lack of humility and hot head are going to earn you a lot more trouble than you’re worth.”

“... _ Sorry  _ ,” Danny says, forcing the word out before he thinks too hard about how patently unfair it is and holds it back forever. “Yeah, okay, I’ll stay here until they go away. But do you know how to get rid of them?”

“I might have an idea,” Vlad says, his tone light again now that he’s gotten his way. Of course, this victory isn’t enough, because there’s no such thing as enough for the man in front of him. “But enlighten me Daniel, because I’m certainly at a loss: why did you think I would help you?”

And there it was: the elephant in the room, the question Danny had struggled with the whole flight to Wisconsin. Why had he bothered? Why would his arch-nemesis lift a finger to his aid? He had been so unsure that Vlad would do  _ anything  _ that he had actually had turned around three times, convinced that there was no way that the older halfa would do anything but laugh at his face and turn him away—and, 

And Danny realizes as he looks at the mirth in Vlad’s eyes, that’s exactly what’s happening, now isn’t it? He doesn’t just want Danny’s cooperation—he wants him to  _ beg  _ before he’s thrown out  _. _

(Danny doesn’t think this  _ explicitly  _ , but there’s something brushing against the corners of his consciousness, seen, but not yet understood. He doesn’t know it, but he’s experiencing the dissonance of knowing he deserves help but not knowing  _ why  _ that’s true. He doesn’t know how to broach complex concepts like the maturity and responsibility and the compassion humanity needs to show itself, not because we’ve earned it, but because it’s what we deserve, and it’s frustrating beyond measure to him.

And can you blame him? He’s fourteen, and he doesn’t quite know how to argue that Vlad  _ needs  _ to be the bigger man and step up for once in his life, even if it doesn’t benefit him in the slightest, and there’s a lot of good reasons why that’s true, because

  1. Vlad’s the adult here, Vlad should be able to see the fear, the self-loathing Danny carries in himself, should know that if Danny was here, he had no where else to go, and that means that
  2. Danny feels alone in this world, and as one of two halfas in existence, that loneliness is not just teenage angst, but a very real reality that Vlad dealt with for twenty long years, that Vlad understands, and _that_ means that
  3. Danny is putting some modicum of his very tenuous faith in Vlad, despite how little Vlad deserves that faith, and that leap of faith means that 
  4. Something is _wrong_ , deeply and fundamentally wrong with the Fenton household, and Danny can’t rely on his family because of this. Jack and Maddie are the forefront researchers of ghost anatomy; they would have theories as to what’s going on. We won’t get into it too deeply, because Jack and Maddie have a lot of love in their hearts for their children, but does Danny feel that love when his parents threaten Phantom? Does he feel cherished when he is constantly punished for doing the right thing? Does he feel understood when his parents assign chores any other fourteen year old would never be asked to do?



Danny will learn this much later, but right now, he doesn’t know that he’s being traumatized in new and exciting ways on a daily basis. He doesn’t know that the tightness in his chest that hasn’t let up in months is because he’s scared and anxious and sad all of the time. He doesn’t  _ get it  _ , but he hasn’t felt safe a single minute since this insanity was thrust onto him, and Vlad should know that feeling better than anyone in the world. And the fact that the older halfa is just as petty and cruel and vindictive as any of Danny’s other bullies? It’s an injustice no one should ever bear.

But Danny’s still a kid, and these are concepts still a bit out of his reach. So instead of arguing, instead of demanding that Vlad act like the fucking mentor he says he wants to be so badly, Danny does what you, or I, or any other teenager would do in this stupid, unfair situation. He withdraws.)

“I...I don’t know what I was thinking,” Danny says quietly, because he had hoped Vlad would be able to push aside their feud for a couple of minutes to give him even a vague idea of what was happening to him, even if he didn’t know why that hope existed in the first place. “I’ll...I’ll figure it out. Thanks for nothing, Vlad.”

This time, he gets up.

(And here we are at a precipice, folks.)

Vlad watches Daniel stand up, and it fills him with the same irrational frustration it always does when the younger halfa turns his back on him.

Every time they talk, it ends like this. There’s never an accord, an understanding, and Vlad is always at a loss as to why. He offers Daniel  _ everything  _ he could ever want again and again and he’s snubbed at every turn. Despite every argument and fight they’ve ever had, he’s made it abundantly clear that his house is always open to Daniel, that his guidance is always available.

It’s not on Daniel’s terms, but he’s a child.  _ Why  _ would Vlad stoop to a child’s level, especially when it’s Daniel who needs the help, not him?

“We’re not finished, Daniel,” Vlad says sharply, but Daniel’s as stubborn as his pig headed father (and Vlad), and he doesn’t turn around. “Sit down.”

“Yeah, we are,” Daniel says, refusing to turn and face Vlad, and it presses all of the wrong buttons for the older halfa, who had everyone he ever cared about turn their backs on him twenty years ago and never look back and sees shadows of that betrayal every day of his life. Daniel’s hands are clenched by his sides, and he’s standing very still and very quiet. “You don’t want to help me.”

And that’s not true. All Vlad wants to do is help this child— but it  _ has  _ to be on his terms. He  _ can’t  _ risk it blowing up in his face, he  _ can’t  _ lose another Fenton, and the only way to ensure that Daniel sticks around is to burn every bridge that could lead away from the life Vlad wants for him. There’s no middle ground, and Vlad can’t afford to compromise. Not in this.

“Child, don’t put words in my mouth,” he warns, and because there really isn’t a single nice bone left in his body, he reminds Daniel: “You don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Vlad can sympathize, but there isn’t a single part of him that’s willing to show it, not to this child who doesn’t understand complex concepts like betrayal and loneliness and the desire to prove everyone who ever had a thought about us wrong, not because we deserve it, but because it’s what we’ve taken, what we’ve earned. 

“I’ll figure it out without you,” Daniel spits out. “I don’t—AH!—need you. I’ve never needed you.”

The words are like a dagger to his chest , but Vlad’s learned to be very good at giving just as good as he gets. With practiced ease, he pulls the dagger out and drives it into Daniel’s back as he snarls,

“And what a good job you’re doing, you little brat. Grades slipping, different bruises to explain on the daily, new enemies every time you go outside—it’s  _ pathetic  _ , Daniel. I’m surprised you’ve managed to keep our secret this long at the rate you’re going.”

Feeling a vindictive sort of glee at how Daniel’s fists are shaking at his sides, he twists the knife.

“Turn around and face me, you little worm. Or are you just as much a coward as your idiot father?”

Daniel turns, fist pulled back, and  _ swings  _ at Vlad. Of course, Vlad’s ready, and he catches the fist easily. Of course he does, not only did he see it coming from about a mile away, Daniel still hasn’t shifted, and his strength is still mostly human. Vlad opens his mouth to gloat, to tell Daniel that he should have learned how to summon Phantom’s strength in human form  _ months  _ ago, but then, he notices two things:

  1. There’s blood almost _pouring_ from the younger halfa’s mouth, covering his throat and staining his shirt, and
  2. Daniel’s crying, honest to God _crying_ , and Vlad’s never seen him do that before.



“Fuck you!” Daniel says, but the effect is ruined by the waver in his voice. “Let go of me! I’m leaving! Fuck you!”

It’s been a long time since Vlad’s been rendered absolutely, incoherently speechless.

“I’m serious, Plasmius,  _ let go  _ or I  _ swear  _ I’m gonna—AH!—blast a hole in your dumb fucking face—”

There’s thoughts and feelings that Vlad refuses to ever experience again. He’s done feeling stupid, feeling small, feeling powerless. He’s got money, he’s got power, he’s got—

Vlad can see flecks of blood on the floor. Despite everything, it looks like Daniel  _ does  _ know how to bite his tongue once in a while. It makes him feel—

Daniel wrenches his fist out of Vlad’s hand and storms towards the door. 

Every time they talk, it ends like this. Blood on the ground, egos bruised, even farther from understanding than ever. And what comes after? If Vlad looks back, if he takes even a single step away and looks back, what comes after? Daniel goes home to his family and friends and Vlad goes home to  _ nothing  _ , and at some point, Vlad’s going to have to confront that it makes him feel—

Daniel throws open the door with a slam that says maybe he  _ does  _ know something about using Phantom’s strength in Fenton’s body. He takes the first step over the threshold, and Vlad makes a decision no one expects—

“I didn’t think you’d grow them so soon.”

And decides to be the bigger man.

(And here we are again.)

“...what do you mean?”

“You don’t have to stay. I shouldn’t have asked that of you. It was...unbecoming.”

“Yeah, no shit you giant jerk. Now what do you mean?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Daniel. The fangs are normal. You need to spend a few hours getting rid of any excess energy in your system and they won’t manifest in your human form.”

“...and what happens if they come back?”

“Same treatment. When there’s a certain amount of energy within your system, it spills over into your human form. You just need to learn to manage it.”

“Why is this happening to me?”

“It might not feel like it, but it’s normal. Your ghost half is...it’s settling within you. Don’t be surprised if you see other differences.”

“There’s going to be  _ more  _ ?”

“...Twenty years ago, my ghost form was actually very similar to yours. Almost human, with some minor differences from form to form. It took time for Plasmius to change into what you recognize, but it’s been stable for years. As long as I kept my energy in check, incidences like this are kept to a minimum.”

“What else is going to change? What’s next?”

“For me, it was my eyes. After that, Ears. Skin. Hair.”

“But  _ why?  _ ”

“I believe that… as time passes, ghosts start to slip further and further away from their humanity. They go from what they looked like at time of death to… to some would argue caricatures or stereotypes of what they thought themselves to be. I’ve heard the argument that their form matches what they desired to be in life. There’s not a conscious choice to it, but there is a rightness to their new forms. It’s why Skulker is nothing more than a blob of ectoplasm piloting a fearsome set of armor. He’s a physical manifestation of an inferiority complex.

It’s similar for halfas, to an extent. My theory is that instead of completely shifting away from a humanoid form, our ghost halves...have to compromise. I stopped shifting after a certain amount of time because my human half acts like an anchor of sorts. There’s not really a way for the ghost half to...change into what it wants to be, when it’s tied to our human half. Compared to most ghosts, the changes are actually very tame...even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, Daniel.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“If I told you that I don’t know, would you leave it at that?”

“Not in a million years.”

“Then you’ll have to wait, I suppose.”

(They lapse into silence.)

“...Vlad?”

“What is it, Daniel?”

“Could you...uh, I mean—I was wondering if...”

“I...have a training room,” Vlad says slowly, when he figures out what the younger halfa is trying to say. “I can show you the program I use to manage Plasmius’ energy. If you’d like.”

He turns and starts walking towards the training room, refusing to stand still or let Danny see the look on his face when the inevitable ‘no’ slips out. He’ll want to punch something to ease the sting of rejection, but at least for today, he’s done taking his own problems out on the younger halfa.

There’s a moment’s pause, a final cliff that Danny is standing over, judging how safe it is to continue down this unexplored and precarious path—

And then, to his astonishment (and tentative, fledgling wonder) Vlad hears footsteps fall in place behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Bonuscat for the prompt:
> 
> "I've bit myself sev -- OW! -- eight times already!"
> 
> I had a lot of fun exploring what it would be like if my fav wasn't a complete fuckin loser idiot asshole so thank you for that :D


End file.
